Secret Garden continured

Ok, the date 6/9/12 deserves a post!  (Oops, got excited about the numbers, forgot that it is now 2016.)

I have been working on my Secret Garden idea. I had done the background.

Then I did a free motion piece on soluble fabric. I thought I had made it the right size but when I dissolved the fabric it shrank. I seem to make this mistake often. But … it was the right size in one direction.

We had a day learning about Tyvek at the Embroiderers Guild play day recently, so I used that inspiration to try making a wall.  I knew I had a pack of it somewhere, I bought it at least 5 years ago but hadn't even opened the packet. After some wondering where it could be now that I have tidied my studio and knew I hadn't seen it while doing that, I remembered where it was.

So, Tyvek painted, some rough free motion sewing, a bit of heat from the iron and voila - a wall.

Contemporary Textile Exhibition Buda

I went to see the exhibition at Buda Historic Homestead during the week. As I had a piece in it, I was asked to sit the gallery for half a day.

It is set up in a lovely, airy room. All sorts of art was around me and I had a very relaxing time there.

This was my favourite piece, Rabbits, by Jo Maxwell.

My work had been mounted in a most creative way - I loved it. It was set in a freestanding frame and hung in the space inside the frame. You could see straight through the frame so my piece looked as if it was suspended in midair. I will have to think about doing something similar when I get it back.

The Slipstitch exhibition was also in Castlemaine, at the Art Gallery.
It was also very enjoyable to visit. Quite different from the Buda exhibition.

Not so secret garden

I thought I had better try to come up with a piece for the upcoming A Secret Garden exhibition, seeing I have become involved in the organisation of it.

Continuing on with my small pieces of fabric collage theme, I have made a small garden. It started out slightly smaller than A4 and will probably shrink a bit with the sewing.

Just laying out scraps, very small in some cases, onto some fusible interfacing.

Even smaller pieces that have had Vliesofix attached and were then ironed on.

Free motion sewing to add some texture. 

Now to work out how to make it 'secret'.
I have an idea but it remains to be seen if I can get it mounted in the way I am imagining. Time will tell.

Another invitation

I am very pleased that a piece I have made has been accepted into the Buda Historic House's Contemporary Textiles exhibition.

My piece uses some of the fossil  pieces I experimented with recently. I won't put a picture up until the exhibition opens.

Today an invitation came, so I am sharing it around.

Hmm, that could have been bigger.
Here is the relevant information:
Contemporary Textiles Exhibition, opening event is Sunday August 28th, 2.00pm.

The exhibition is open daily, 10am - 4 pm, from Saturday August 27th till September 10th.

There is another exhibition on at the same time in Castlemaine, at the Art Gallery and Museum. Slipstitch.
So you could have a lovely textile day out.


I will be sitting the gallery one morning, so hope to get to see the other textile exhibition that day also. Looking forward to it!!

16/8/16

Several people have said to me that I must post today, given the date. And I missed 12/8/16 just a few days ago, so I had better get myself organised.

So … what to write about?

I have been working on the flyer for the Embroiderers Guild, Victoria, for the upcoming members' exhibition. It is called A Secret Garden.

I haven't really used Photoshop much lately, so it was a bit of a challenge to get it done to all the subcommittee's satisfaction. (There was quite a lot of input from various sources.) I also had to do it to the requirements of the printers, which took a bit of playing around but eventually worked.

However, it has been successfully printed and we have also come up with an e-flyer for sending out to friends and other people with whom I have tenuous links through the internet.
Therefore, I will put an image up here. Feel free to pass it on.

If you are in Victoria, or you may visit in the appropriate times, you could visit. It isn't for a while yet which is fortunate as I am still developing ideas in my head.
I haven't worked out what technique I want to use, let alone work on the actual image.

We had a play day at the guild today and used Tyvek. Now I am thinking that I might be able to incorporate that into my work. Lots of playing will be necessary - not a bad thing. There should be time to get it done, handing in day isn't till September 24th.

I really have to post today - it is 8/8/16!
I haven't an idea in mind, will just have to go with the flow.

I have finished my tapestry. It is much smaller than I had hoped as the larger one was a disaster - with a capital D!!

Capital D!!

Now I have a piece that I can put in the exhibition my group has committed to (more on that soon). I haven't cut if off the loom yet, but will do so tomorrow. Then spend the several hours it takes to tidy up the ends, braid the edges, etc. Then I can relax and have another look at the piece that was stressing me.

I have realised that I was rather tense at the time and I think it shows in the tension (tense - tension, get it??). No surprise there. So I may pull out the very tight weaving, that is mostly on the sides, and see if I can make it less pulled in.

Actually, now that I look at it again, it may have more problems than just on the side. But I will start with the side bit, see what happens.
If nothing works, I may put it in the compost heap and see what happens, or use it in a machine embroidery piece. It may not work but now it doesn't matter as I have the smaller piece to put in the exhibition. I can play. Or throw it away.

The grass is greener.

I don't have much to blog about but just had to today, it is 4/8/16. Love the doubling.

Anyway, what to blog about??

I am plugging away at my tapestry which is due by the end of August. I also have a small piece I should be doing right now, for the machine embroidery group at the Embroiderers Guild on Sunday. Obviously, I am not doing either.

I did go for a walk recently. I had been looking at some thread bowls a friend makes and was struck by the bowl-shaped indentations in the grass. They were made by a radiating plant growing in the middle of grass. The pictures don't do justice to the scene. I took them to remind me and to give me a starting point for a design if I decide to go down that path.

And it is sooooo green - very different from the warmer months.